CLASS: Shamanic techno-wizard

Techno wizards are tinkerer sorcerers that explore science as if it were a shamanistic art form and practice magic as if it were a scientific discipline. The blending of these two concepts is not unnatural to them. Often a techno wizard will have had a life long curiosity with strange and wondrous objects. By young adulthood they will seek a master to begin an apprenticeship in the three schools of study.

First School - Psionic Magic (Levels 0-3

Derives from implanted biologic technology of an organic nature. Powers are bestowed through serums, potions, vaccines, salves and other medicines. Effects of these concoctions are temporary, but necessary to help train the mind of the Techno-Wizard. Abilities can be mastered in any order and include:

• Empathy bond (soak up the mental energies of another to interpret their intentions and mood)
• Telekinesis (level 0 = force push; level 1= force tug, level 2=move in X,Y,Z directions, level 3=complex manipulation of objects in midair)
• Psionic Screen (mental barrier against all forms of psionic attacks)
• Commune with animalia (speak with or command fauna)
• Mental Blast (attack with 1d6 per level; increases all the way to 10th level)
• Familiar (gain a familiar animal no larger than half your size that will help you in rituals by giving you +1d4 to all rolls per your level; forthcoming posts will outline how certain familiars can also unlock other cosmic powers)
• Detect psionic flow (energy sources, read auras for empathic readings, etc.)
• Illusion projection (project a vision, dream, etc. to one target per level)
• Astral travel (travel anywhere without interaction in a corporeal manner)

Success is based on Wisdom/Presence attribute checks. Take into account any modifiers gained through biological/psionic enhancements.

Note: Due too background noise of the Song of Kings, direct telepathy and prophesying are extremely difficult to perform at this time.

Second School - Energy Magic (Levels 4-6)

After mastering the First School, Second School abilities are opened to the Techno-Wizard. Calling on the fires of the cosmos (subatomic particles et. al.) requires intense focus and concentration, but also a good deal of ritual practice. Drawing of runes on the skin, scarification, and scrawling artifacts or rooms with special "paint" consisting of a techno-alchemical composition is used to harness these energies. The written words are activated through speech and gestures. Techno-Wizards cannot create energy, only attract it, store it, redirect it, and manipulate it.

Abilities must be mastered in the following order:

1. Detect and call radiation glyphs (allows for drawing energy from the weakest of background sources)
2. Emanate heat glyph (energizes a weak heat source up to blowtorch flame)
3. See infra (lizard glyph) and ultra (moth glyph) wavelengths
4. Create light source (pure light, as a torch or non-harmful ray - paint object you wish to be light source)
5. Battery Body (illustrate on the inside of an empty vessel to store energy of 1 megawatt per Techno-Wizard's level)
6. Concentrate/Attenuate (draw rings on entire body along limbs, etc. to create holograms, laser blasts, etc.)
7. Transmit (full body paint as well as runes on a rod or staff to act as emitter for radio, microwave wavelengths and the like)
8. Saturate Target (paint large target area on floor, and two walls for X,Y,Z coordinates
9. Energy sheath (paint armor or shield to become a barrier of energy or magnetism)
10. Spacetime bending (full psionic concentration and paint body a mosaic of alternating colors in a full-body grid; allows for shaping spacetime, albeit on small scales to create small backward time fluxes for reroll opportunities, causing antigravity fields, bend light for invisibility, etc.)

Success is based on Intelligence attribute checks. Take into account any modifiers gained through cybernetic enhancements.

Note: Dark Energy is akin to "black magic" and very dangerous/unpredictable. You might power a spaceship or you might create a singularity!

Third School - Matter Sculpting Magic (Levels 7-10)

Once the First and Second schools are complete the Techno-Wizard graduates to a much more robust class of abilities. These require advanced technologies that must be worn as circlets, rings, bracers, helms, body harnesses, or other wearable forms. Abilities are not possible, if these items are removed.
Items may be permanently integrated through cybernetics, be they robotic upgrades attached to the PC's biological systems or a constant supply of nanomite supplements. If nanomites, they make take the form of a gas (as through a sealed mask), tiny capsules to swallow, or as a replacement for blood. 

Abilities must be mastered in the following order:

1. Organize matter (simple objects of just one material, think Green Lantern's early constructs, i.e., swords, shields, hammers, fists, simple wheels, etc.)
2. Teleportation (move PC or any single object same size or smaller)
3. Transmorphism (change PC's shape only)
4. Disintegrate object (range is equal to 10 meters per level - target at a time - effect is permanent)
5. Composite constructs (more complicated creations made of multiple materials)
6. Transform Object (change anything's shape)
7. Technomancery (complex machines, objects capable of computations)
8. Element conversion (reformulating matter at it's most basic level, e.g., stellar conversion, etc.)

Success is based on Constitution attribute checks. Take into account any modifiers gained through technological enhancements.


Note: This class is a work in progress, and may be updated. :)

Sisters of Chyon and the Tenth Labyrinth

In the southern hemisphere, in the continent of Ueris, lay the ruins of one of the true wonders of Benu--the Tenth Labyrinth.

Legend says that a great technomancer called Chyon of Dhrom had taken residence among the canyonlands to while away the millennia, developing incredible technologies the likes of which Benu had not seen. His powers of intellect and ambition did not go unnoticed and before long nearby kingdoms sent spies, hoping to procure his secrets by any means necessary.

Maze of Madness

To ward off, confuse, and confound his enemies, Chyon used his techno magicks to carve a great maze into the canyons that looked natural to the untrained eye. He added many deadly pitfalls, traps, and puzzles as well as various "guardians" to deter robbers from stealing the magnificent secrets kept safe within his vaults.

Countless intrepid adventurers paid the ultimate price for their curiosity or their bounties. But some did escape with partial maps of his labyrinth. Eventually Chyon came to realize that the sheer number of attempts would catch up with him. So he finally created a final maze--the tenth.

 

Instead of a completely separate labyrinth though, he connected all the mazes into a giant, moving, multi-level mega puzzle. Each of the previous nine were now interconnected. No single map could ever be produced with enough accuracy to be useful in future expeditions.

The Ultimate Guardians

Having achieved such great accomplishments on Benu, Chyon understood that living in this dimension became like a straight jacket to his now otherworldly abilities. Knowing he soon must depart for a higher plane, he left behind two master guardians to watch over his labyrinth.

Chyon knew he could not himself stay on Benu to personally judge the intentions of those who entered the maze, so he forged two great female sphinx to test would-be invaders and robbers.

He imbued the sphinxes with consciousness. Sephia would be assess would-be assailants through pointed interrogation using logic and reason. Qureo, possessed the ability to empathically evaluate the sincerity and intentions of the entrant. Both are quite cruel and pityless.

They remain the most formidable guardians of the labyrinth--stationed just before the great vault--at the heart of the puzzle. Anyone lucky enough to make it that far, would be tested. Only honorable individuals of noble purpose would be permitted entrance. And they would be re-tested upon exit, for it was under the weight of bearing witness to the astounding artifacts inside the vault, that avarice-riddled entrants would buckle.

Sphinx Powers and Abilities  

The sisters are just under 100 feet tall, and have the ability to stare into the very soul of their targets. Through a massive psionic attack they can render victims powerless, petrified with fear, or vaporized. They are made of an unknown material which is nye indestructible.

Psionic Roar

Victims must roll Save vs. Stunned or Paralysis. Characters with Dexterity or Agility scores lower than 8-9 suffer a -1 penalty, 6-7 suffer -2, and 5 or lower -3. Paralyzing effect lasts for 1d6 rounds. The sisters will then conduct the Test of Courage on their targets. Should their prey fail, the Sisters will employ optic blasts to dispose of targets.

Test of Courage

The sisters will forge an illusion in the mind of their targets in which they must face their deepest fears. Victims must roll Save vs. Fear using the same modifiers found in the Psionic Roar above. Failure indicates they are now also paralyzed (roll 1d6 to determine duration). Those who lose their save also lose commensurate Charisma/Presence attribute scores (-1, -2, -3, per above). Victims who's Charisma/Presense falls below 4 will be driven mad for the remainder of the session.

Disintegrating Optic Blasts

These deadly beams render the final judgement on those poor, unfortunate souls at their feet. They gain a +1, +2, or +3 to hit (the exact oppisite of the ranges found in Psionic Roar). Damage is extreme: 2d8+1 for each eye (fire as two, simultaneous shots per sphinx).

Rumors:

• Chyon is thought to be the first of the Ancient Kings to disappear from Benu.
• The souls of Chyon's own sisters are thought to reside (or be trapped) within the giant statues.
• Anyone pure of heart who can pass both into and out from the inmost vault, shall be free to leave without harm, provided they leave without taking any artifacts.
• A hologram of Chyon (which appears real) will apparate before the great sphinx sisters to intimidate his victims before the test begins.
• Chyon may be the inventor of some of Benu's more well-known artifacts.

Dungeon: "The Unquenchable" Maw

In the highlands that border the wastes lies a massive cave maw, blasted and scorched and choked with carbon stench, called "The Unquenchable". It is the gateway to an ancient dungeon, made up of natural caves, abandoned beetlemen catacombs, and tunnels from a razed super fortress.

Many millennia ago, the area was home to an ancient evil that launched wave after wave of slaughter on the shining fortress of ancient wonders (the name of which has long since been forgotten). Legend has it that one of the Ancient Kings sent his armies into the maw to route the devil, but none returned. More soldiers were conscripted as the centuries passed, but they all perished--it's thirst for blood never seeming to be quaffed--hence the name.

The Ancient King finally passed to the afterlife and without their beloved leader they could not repel the demon's might. The fortress fell in a fortnight, those that didn't fight, fled and a great diaspora began. Many technologies and magics (massive heat rays, psionic generators, astral keys, and more) went missing in the confusion and panic, but a few eventually made their way to the Cryptotherium. The remaining treasures, it's rumored, were claimed by the beast.

Centuries passed, and the maw called once again to adventurers looking to reclaim ancient treasures lost and buried. The maw was rediscoverd, mapped as the entrance--the only one--into the deep chaos below. No adventure party has ever returned.

Song of the Kings

The Bando speak of the "Song of Kings" which is not a song that can be heard with ears, but with the mind. It's a channel of psionic energy that ripples through the planet and acts as a carrier wave for thoughts, memories, impressions left in the collective unconscious of time.

The Ancient Kings were the first to employ this power, and subsequently taught it to their followers. When they took their empire to new worlds, they were able to "awaken" the song by geophysical manipulation of a planet's core and tuning it to the local solar winds. These worlds then lit up like auroras with immeasurable psionic energies, creating a intergalactic grid between them that could then be tapped, mapped, and traveled.

Ruined temples throughout Benu are thought to rest over areas the song can be best "heard" or utilized. These places act as amplifiers where the song can be made corporeal, (i.e., produce sounds, sights, even scents) and help bring forth bits of the spacetime stream (past, present, and future) into being.

Gifted psions can "sing" and telepathically commune with living as well as the long lost. Relics from ancient times could be permanently imbued with the song, but that technology has long been forgotten.

Cryptotherium: Keeping Place of Secrets

The Bando know that the things they find in the wastes of Benu are from ancient and powerful civilizations that fell long before they set foot across the salt flats. Those finds that hum and glow with unknown energies are transported to the Cryptotherium, a massive museum and laboratory in the capitol city.

Here the wisest and most learned among the Bando try to uncover the secrets of the past. More often than not, the artifacts stored here are relegated to storage and deemed undecipherable.

Physical Structure, Azure and Ancient

The Cryptotherium is a 20-story tall tower with an observatory dome on top. The entire building is covered in ancient glyphs, scrawled on thousands of pieces of ornate stonework that have been scavenged and fastened together to create this monumental edifice and shrine of the past.

The inner layout of the building is honeycomb of passages and skyways connecting hundreds of vaults and labs. Many dangerous objects are housed here so the walls are thick and seemingly impenetrable. The building's original blue glaze, while cracked and faded, still quite captivating, while trimmed with a precious platinum-colored metal that gleams brightly in direct midday starlight.

The observatory dome crowns the top of the building with colorful and strange stained glasses that at one time filtered out direct sunlight so observations could be made during the day. In the waning light of Benu's star, the windows have taken on new properties--shifting auras and colored shapes of light in mid-air--which Bando astronomers are at a loss to explain.

There are three entrances to the Cryptotherium, one main ramp that leads to a hall of vaults and two skyway bridges 10 stories from the ground that lead from the adjacent buildings. These are ramshackle bridges covered with deep blue canvas tenting. Similar coverings dot the building over breaches or fallen walls where passages are now vulnerable, as the building has been in general disrepair for the last millennia. 

Powerful Secrets Means Tight Security

The building is heavily guarded--not against threats from within (the punishment in Bando society is to be abandoned beyond the Indigo Gates of the city, a fate of certain death) but from without. Seekers from other worlds, competitor races on Benu, and other oddness have besieged the tower in the past.

The Bando forbid all outsiders from entering and installed an permanent garrison of 300 Bando sentinels called Mazhji to watch over their precious treasures. Armed with weapons familiar and ancient, these Mazhji will lay down their lives to keep intruders from making off with any secrets of The Kings.

While the tower appears to have it's weak points, the Bando's resolve to protect the Cryptotherium is boundless. An outsider looking to get in should consider that there are better ways to die.